Sunday 28 March 2021

#TsundokuSquad Book of the Month - March - The Islanders by S.V Leonard



Book Title:
The Islanders

Author: S.V Leonard

My Rating: 3*

Publisher: Canelo Crime

Publication Date: 11/03/21

Genre(s): Thriller, Murder Mystery

Pages: 246

Format Read: E-book

Goodreads: Her dream escape is about to become a nightmare…

Kimberley King has spent the last five years trying to outrun the reason she left the police force. Her life is a mess and she’s desperate for change. So when she is randomly selected for the new series of the hit show LoveWrecked, she can’t pass up the chance to win the £50,000 prize. All Kimberley needs to do is couple up with one of her fellow contestants, win the infamous LoveWrecked challenges, and she will have enough cash for a fresh start.

But the island isn’t the paradise she was promised and within hours, one of the contestants is dead. Then the announcement comes: one of the islanders is a murderer and Kimberley must find out who, live on television. For every hour it takes her, one more person will die.

The game is rigged, everyone is hiding secrets, and time is running out…


This is the 3rd group book for #TsundokuSquad and once again we split it into roughly 25% each week with a discussion every Saturday night. Here are our thoughts:

Group rating: 3.5*

My rating: 3*


The plot of this book sounded really good and all of us did enjoy the first week. It was full of drama and secrets and we were intrigued to find out more. The set was described almost exactly like the Love Island setting so that threw some of us a little. However as the book went on, a few of us including me, thought that that the drama was starting to get too over the top and it started to go downhill for me.

It is an easy read and is incredibly fast paced with lots of murder and drama throughout which we all enjoyed but the main character Kim was unlikable and considering she used to be a police officer she wasn't very good at trying to solve the case!

There were twists thrown in to keep the readers off the scent and I knew the suspect was going to be someone to do with Kim's last case as a police officer but I wasn't sure how everyone else fitted in.

The book is also set out a little differently, with chapters from Kim's POV, a news website that is providing fans with the latest goings on in the villa with attached comments and also further on we are shown messages to and from the Judge which offered a bit more insight into the backstory. We enjoyed the way this was presented as it gave us ideas as to what was going on and we liked seeing the public's response to the game.

The ending was underwhelming and many of us thought that the reveal was a surprise but nothing we could have guessed so it was a bit of a disappointment. However, we were glad that all the loose ends were tied up nicely and that we found out who was doing everything and why.

Overall The Islanders is a quick and easy read that is a little over the top but offers good bits of suspense and drama.


As always this review is just our thoughts on the book and everyone likes different things!

Our April read is Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Macneal so keep a look out for our review at the end of the month!

No comments:

Post a Comment